Nobility Never Dies
by SimiXiamara
Summary: SEQUEL TO WHAT IS NOBILITY? - Kagome has her own family now. Her own children, her own mate, her own life. What happens when she tries to mingle her old life with her new life? Only time will tell, but it becomes quite clear to Kagome that nobility never dies. - I do not own InuYasha or Sesshomaru -done for pleasure not profit.
1. Tearful Reunion

A/N: THIS IS A SEQUEL! While you probably won't be to lost if you just read this one, it is recommended that you read What is Nobility first! Thanks!

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BEEP BEEP, BEEP BEEP

"Sesshy, shut that thing off!" Kagome complained as she pulled her pillow over her head with a groan of protest.

BEEP BEEP, BEEP BEEP

"Sesshomaru!" Kagome threw the pillow off of her head and reached over to shake her Mate awake only to find an empty bed. What the-? She sat up, reaching across the bed to Sesshomaru's side of the bed and hitting the button to turn off his alarm clock. She squinted in the darkness towards the master bathroom that was lit threw a crack in the door and she heard the sound of the shower.

She groaned softly, flopping back onto the bed, closing her eyes. Why did he get up and leave without shutting off his alarm clock first? He knew that she didn't have to get up until 7:00, and she was _not_ a morning person in general. She rolled over, drowning out the sound of her Mate showering in the next room and closed her eyes slightly, fighting back a yawn.

She had almost drifted back off to sleep when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She groaned, attempting to shrug it off, though it maintained the pressure and was now gently shaking her. "Geddoff," she tried, shrugging her shoulder again before suddenly, aforementioned hand was pulling her blanket off of her. "Hey!" she complained as the cool air hit her bare legs. She reached down without opening her eyes to try and find her blanket but without avail.

She tossed the pillow off of her head once more and stared up at the half-naked form of her husband who only had a towel wrapped around his damp hips. She stared at him for a moment and arched a brow. "If you think you're getting lucky after waking me up like that, you've got another thing coming, buster," she stated simply, placing the back of her hand to her mouth as she yawned again.

"Come on, Kagome, you need to get up, don't you remember what day it is?" he inquired, watching her carefully, though by her half-dazed look, it was clear that she had not remembered what day it was. "Today is the day your counterpart went into the well for the last time. Didn't you want to go see your family today?"

Kagome remained still for a moment while realization took over her. "Oh! That's right!" she exclaimed, placing a hand to her mouth as she shot straight up. "Crap, and we have to get the kids ready for school, go by the office and pick up that last report and…" she gasped, getting up to her feet, the overlarge t-shirt she was wearing barely covering her goods as she darted to the bathroom. "Ooh, Sesshomaru, when you're dressed, go wake up Mika and Nira, won't you?"

Ignoring the soft chuckle from her husband behind her as she went into the master bath and stripped off her shirt and proceeded to leap into the shower and turn on the water. A soft yelp at the cold water at first before it began to warm up as she lathered her hands with shampoo and went on to wash her hair. Her washcloth then coated with body wash and she cleaned herself thoroughly.

It was times like this when she did _not_ miss the feudal era. Hot running water, shampoo, proper soap, tooth brush and tooth paste. Ah yes, the modern world was completely wonderful. It didn't take her long to get clean and fix her hair before she moved into the bedroom to get dressed. There were pictures on the mantle in the bedroom she shared with her Mate that spanned so many years.

From painted portraits to black and white photographs, to modern day color pictures from a digital camera, they spanned their time together for the last few decades. She and Sesshomaru had been together for over five hundred years. Looking in the mirror, you'd hardly think that the young woman looking back at you was five-hundred and twenty-one years old, but she was! Honestly!

Kagome and Sesshomaru had twenty different children, most of them grown and moved away from home, several in America, some in Europe, others on the Continent of China. All that was left was little Mika and Nira. Mika, who would be 18 in July. And Nira? Little Nira was 7, and she was adopted, Kagome just had barely been able to bear it when Rin had died in the car accident 5 years ago. Shippo had mated her when he was 18 and they'd been together until that fateful day.

Shippo hadn't survived her long; the bond between them had snapped something in Shippo. He had never quite been the same afterward. Sesshomaru said it was common in demon bonds, those who had been Marked did not long outlive the other until the heartache killed them. Nira had only been 2 when her father had died and left her an orphan. Kagome couldn't let her go into foster care and so she and Sesshomaru had adopted their granddaughter as their own.

Kagome had been waiting patiently with her own family until the time when she could make herself known to her family. She'd watched them from afar for as long as they lived. She'd even seen her mother as an infant, and then a child growing up in the Higurashi shrine. She'd watched her ancestors discover the bone-eaters well and all of their history played before her eyes, but she couldn't interfere.

Until now. Pulling on a ring that held on it a powerful charm, she watched as her demonic features, the crescent moon, the strips on her cheeks, her fangs, her claws, her pointed ears, they all faded away to a human façade. She looked up as Sesshomaru entered and smiled up at him. His hair was shorter now, and while wearing his own charmed ring, he had black hair and brown eyes, just as InuYasha had when in human form.

She rose, wrapping her arms around Sesshomaru's neck and smiled. "Are the children getting ready?" she asked softly, smiling slightly as she let her hand slide down his chest. He was wearing a simple button-down shirt with a suit jacket and a pair of blue jeans.

"Mika gave me a bit of trouble until I told him if he didn't get up I was going to make him sleep outside tonight," he stated, smirking slightly. His stoic expression had slowly faded over the years as it became less and less expected and required to maintain his position. Kagome couldn't say that she missed it all that much.

Kagome tapped Sesshomaru's chest and pulled away. "You should be nice to him, he's still just a baby," she stated, moving into the closet to pull out a light green jacket to pull over her own blouse and straightened out her skirt before sliding on her shoes. "Alright… let's go, the kids need to get some breakfast."

With that, she headed down the stairs to the kitchen and began to make some waffles for the two children, covering them with syrup in time for the two to trudge down the stairs in their school uniforms to sit at the table. She handed them both a glass of milk before leaning against the counter. "Hurry up and eat or you're going to be late," she stated as she moved to begin cleaning up the little mess that she'd made while cooking.

It didn't take long for the two to eat their waffles and drink their milk before Sesshomaru ushered them out to the car. Climbing into the passenger seat, Kagome turned to look in the back seat. "You two have everything? Books? Homework?" She smiled as they both nodded to her before she gave Sesshomaru the okay to pull out of the driveway.

It didn't take long to get to the elementary school, smiling as Nira got out, Kagome got out as well, straightening Nira's coat and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Alright, sweetheart, have a good day at school!" she exclaimed, ushering Nira off to her teacher who was standing outside to greet her students and make sure they got into the school safely. Waving to Mrs. Takinomi, Kagome got back into the car.

"Can I walk from here?" came a voice from the back and Kagome looked over at her son.

"What, don't want to be embarrassed by your parents dropping you off?" Kagome asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well I wouldn't _be_ embarrassed if you'd just give me back my car keys, then I could drive myself," Mika retorted smartly.

Sesshomaru growled softly, eyeing Mika in the mirror. "Driving is a privilege, Mika, and when you abuse privileges, those privileges get taken away," he stated simply. "You won't learn responsibility if we just let you have whatever you wanted when you wanted it."

"Come on, dad, it was one friggin' ticket!" Mika protested.

"Mika. Stop it," Kagome said sternly. "It was one ticket for driving 20 kilometers over the speed limit! You could have killed someone! You could have killed _yourself_!" She shook her head slightly. "Fine, you can walk to school from here, but don't think that you're just going to skip going to school today. Because just remember, your Uncle InuYasha will tell me if you don't show up."

With that Mika cursed under his breath and got out of the car and slung his bag over his shoulder and walked away. Kagome watched him go, thankful that InuYasha at least was able to keep an eye on Mika while he was at school. InuYasha had been made vice president of Mika's high school about 5 years ago so that it would be safer for demons and hanyous to go to school with humans.

Sesshomaru looked over at Kagome at this point. "Are you ready for this, Kagome?" he asked softly, reaching over to gently take her hand and bring it to his lips.

Kagome smiled, taking a deep breath. "I've been waiting for this for five-hundred years, Sesshomaru, I am sure I'm ready," she stated and he simply nodded and put the car into gear and drove towards the Higurashi shrine. Upon arrival, Kagome hesitated for only a moment before moving to the front door and raised her hand slowly to knock.

Nerves were eating up at her insides as she waited patiently for the door to open and she smiled brightly at her mom. She knew that while she hadn't aged all that much, she did not look like the 18 year old that had left earlier that morning to go back to the feudal era, and it was obvious that her mother knew from the reaction on her face.

"Hey, Mom." There were tears in Kagome's eyes as she stepped forward. "I've missed you so much."

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A/N: I told you I was working on a sequel! Okay, only the first chapter, but hey... I told you that I'd get it up. It'll be updated like What is Nobility, hopefully at least once a day, maybe more. Hope you enjoyed!


	2. Playing CatchUp

"So let me get this straight. You are my daughter yet you are not the same daughter that just left the house a couple of hours ago. You are actually over five hundred years old and are a demon now, married this young-ah… to this man here. You were unable to cross back over once the jewel you had shattered had been completed and… what was the word you used…?"

"Purified."

"Right, purified… so you've had to wait until now before you could reveal yourself to us so that you didn't upset the cosmic balance of the universe or something of that matter, is that about how it goes then?" The question was asked by Kagome's mother as she and Ichiri, Kagome's grandfather, were seated across from Kagome and Sesshomaru at the kitchen table.

Kagome offered a cheerful smile. "Yep, that about sums it up," she stated with a laugh, watching her mother and grandfather. She shifted her hand over so that it was resting on top of Sesshomaru's gently, squeezing it to offer him a bit of support, she knew that he was uncomfortable.

"Well what happened to InuYasha?" Nakoda asked, looking at her daughter as she placed her hand on her friend's – ah – her husband's – hand. She wasn't entirely sure that she was going to be able to absorb this completely, after all, she'd only just said goodbye to her 18 year old daughter a few hours ago and now she was expected to believe that the woman in front of her not only was her daughter who was over 500 years old, but also a demon married to a demon!

"He's still around. He's actually the vice principle over at Hitomi High where Sesshomaru and I have a son who is in his senior year there. They'd taken great lengths to be sure that Mika had not gone to the schools that Kagome had attended, that would have been far too close for comfort, and they'd told InuYasha not to work at the same school for the same reason. Kagome may have recognized him, because she _had_ seen InuYasha's human form before on nights of the new moon.

Kagome smiled slightly, watching her mother. "InuYasha actually mated to a little kitsune demon. Her name is Kira and she's actually the daughter of Shippo. You remember the little fox demon I told you about?" She had been happy when InuYasha had fallen in love with Shippo's oldest daughter, though Shippo hadn't been to keen on it at first. She smiled faintly at the memory of her little Shippo. Sometimes, Nira reminded her so much of him.

"You have a son!" Nakoda demanded, watching her seriously. "A son that is in his last year of high school and I've never met him?" That disturbed her probably more than anything else. She had a grandson running around somewhere who had probably been born around the same time as Kagome! She wondered if she and Kagome had been in the same hospital giving birth to their children at the same time.

Kagome winced, looking towards Sesshomaru before looking back at her mother. "Actually, Mika is the youngest of our biological children," she said softly. "Nira is younger, but she's technically adopted," she said simply.

"You have more than one?" Nakoda was getting paler by the moment. Her baby had babies. And Mika was the youngest? At 17 or 18? "How many?" she asked softly, not sure if she wanted to know.

Kagome looked back at her mate before returning her gaze to her mother. She winced again before answering. "We have 20 children, counting Nira."

Her mother's eyes widened for a brief moment before suddenly, she fell towards the side. Kagome cried out and rose, though before she could even get around the table, Sesshomaru was there, catching her mother and stopping her from hitting the floor. "Thank you so much, sweetie," she exclaimed to her mate. "Come on, let's take her into the living room and lay her onto the couch."

Sesshomaru easily lifted the smaller woman and carried her out of the kitchen, following Kagome to the living room and laying her down on the couch gently. It was around this time that Nakoda came around, groaning softly.

"Oh, my, what happened?" she asked, holding a hand to her head as she sat up on the couch, looking around at everyone, including her own father who was standing in the door and noticed they were in the living room. "How did we-?"

"Mom, you fainted," Kagome explained, sitting on the table in front of the couch, looking at her worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes… I-I'm fine. I guess I was just surprised. Kagome, you have 20 children that I've never even met?" She could have cried. "20 children! That's so many!"

Kagome blushed slightly, looking away. "Mom, it's only like… 1 kid ever 25 years or so…" she said softly. "And Nira isn't even mine by birth. She's really my granddaughter that we adopted." She brought her lower lip into her mouth, feeling suddenly very nervous.

"Granddaughter?" So not only did she have grandchildren, she had great-grandchildren. This shouldn't all be so very surprising to her, after all, Kagome had been blessed with 500 years, it was only logical that she had started her own family and then when they had grown up that they had their own children. She sighed, leaning back against the couch.

"And… how is it that you met, um… I'm sorry, I can't remember your name," Nakoda replied softly as she looked at Sesshomaru.

"His name is Sesshomaru, Mom. And," Kagome bit her lip again, looking back at Sesshomaru for a bit of help. How could she tell her that the first time she'd met him had been when he'd tried to kill her because she'd been able to pull the Tetsusaiga from the pedestal that it had been embedded in within his father's tomb.

Sesshomaru, sensing his Mate's distress, answered for her. "I am actually InuYasha's older brother," he stated before frowning slightly. "Well, his half-brother. We have the same father, but where InuYasha's mother was human, mine was a full demon, like my father." Something he still took great pride in lording over InuYasha.

"InuYasha's… brother? But honey… that hardly seems, um… _fair_ to InuYasha. Weren't you two an item?" Nakoda asked, watching her daughter.

"Well, we kind of were, but then InuYasha was a bit of a jerk and I left him, and it wasn't long after that when I started dating Sesshomaru." She refused to tell her mother that InuYasha had nearly raped her. That would not have gone over very well, she was sure. As laid back as her mother was, she doubted that Nakoda was _that_ laid back.

"I see, well, it would appear that you have a lot of time to fill us in on then, Kagome," Ichiri finally spoke up with his own opinion as he moved to sit in one of the chairs in the living room, clasping his fingers in front of his face, pointer fingers raised into a steeple formation just over his nose.

"Oh my, is that really the time?" Kagome exclaimed, looking towards her watch after the family grandfather clock chimed three times. She looked to Sesshomaru. "We need to go pick up the children! And Souta will be home soon as well," she stated. She'd gotten lost talking with her mother about her children and her grandchildren, about her friends and their children.

Kagome still kept a watchful eye on the descendents of her dear friends Sango and Miroku. She'd been unable to find a way to keep them alive with her, and their loss had been difficult. Their descendents knew almost nothing of their ancestors, which hurt Kagome a bit, though she made sure that they never wanted for anything. Telling her mother about losing them had been hard though Sesshomaru's comforting arms around her had kept her strong.

And then when she'd told her mother about Shippo and Rin, it had nearly reduced her to tears. Had it not been for Sesshomaru's presence, she had no doubt she would have ended up curled up against her mother. She had missed her mother so much. Though technically, she was now older than the woman, she still made Kagome feel as if she were that 15 year old girl who had first gotten lost in feudal Japan.

Kagome slowly rose from her perch on the couch beside of Sesshomaru. "So… I'll see you later, right, Mom?" she asked, wondering if she'd freaked her mother out so completely that she wouldn't want her coming around Souta.

"Of course, Kagome! Why don't we all have dinner tonight? You come over tonight with, ah Mika and Nira… and Sesshomaru of course. We'll have a nice family dinner. I want to meet my grandkids!" Nakoda explained, leaning in to kiss Kagome's cheek gently. "Go on ahead dear. We will see you tonight, I daresay Souta will be pleased to meet Sesshomaru," she said softly, smiling slightly.

Kagome smiled brightly and with Sesshomaru's hand on her lower back, they moved out of the house and towards the car. She looked up at him as they reached the car, wrapping her arms around his neck as his arms came around her waist gently. "Thank you, Sesshomaru," she whispered softly.

"I told you everything would work out, didn't I?" Sesshomaru smiled faintly as he kissed the top of Kagome's head. "Now come on, let's go get the kids ready to meet your family," he stated before moving to get into the car.

Kagome smiled and nodded, getting into the passenger side of the car. Everything was working out just perfectly. For the first time in centuries, Kagome felt that her life was completely and totally perfect.

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A/N: Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday. We're doing some remodelling around the house, and then we lost power, so I lost the entire document. Stupid me for not saving it. But anyway, hope you enjoy!


	3. Family Dinner

"Mama, what do you think of this one?" Nira's voice rang through the house and Kagome smiled, moving down the hall from her own room and towards Nira's, pausing in the doorway. Nira danced forward out of her closet, her auburn hair left down over her shoulders and her bright green eyes shining with excitement.

Leaning against the door jam, Kagome watched her with a smile on her features. Nira reminded her so much of Shippo. She had the same enthusiasm and love of life. She had Rin's enjoyment of the simple things. It took so little to make her overjoyed. It was sad in a way, and yet in other ways it helped Kagome to deal with their loss.

To think, if only Rin had not been found by humans, if she had been found by a demon who knew which hospital to take her to, she would have survived. But Kagome was trying desperately not to think of that. She simply moved into the other's room a bit more, twirling her finger around to indicate she wanted the other to spin.

"I love it. And you know what? I'm sure your grandmother will love it too. She'll see how gorgeous you are," she stated, smiling slightly as she gently ran her fingers through Nira's hair, turning her towards the mirror. "Now, what shall we do with your hair?"

"So we're just going to shove this human into our lives and pray that she gives a shit about us?" Mika remarked to Sesshomaru as the two males lounged in the living room waiting for the females.

"Your mother needs this, Mika. She's spent the last five-hundred years without her family. Imagine how you would feel if you were suddenly taken away from us when you were 15 years old and told that you were not able to see your family for five centuries?" Sesshomaru asked, his voice a rather good representation of the stoic monotone he had once used so frequently.

"So why are we getting involved in it? Let Mom go and talk to the people, have the whole big family dinner, and leave us out of it. I have better things to do then going and listening to humans talking about stuff that I already know." Humans tended to do that, think that they knew so much more than him, when he knew that he knew more! And he wasn't even allowed to _tell_ anyone how much he knew.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes slightly at his youngest son. "You will be polite. These _humans_ are your family too. Your grandmother, your uncle, your great-grandfather, you will show them the respect that they are due." His voice declared no argument as he got to his feet and moved towards the doorway, leaning against the stairwell. "Kagome! If you don't hurry up, we're going to be late!"

Kagome smiled as she finished up with Nira's hair and heard Sesshomaru calling to them from the stairs. "Ever the impatient one, isn't he?" she asked Nira's reflection which giggled at her. "Come on, then, we shouldn't keep them waiting any longer." With that, she rose up and moved towards the stairs, smiling down at Sesshomaru. "Presenting her royal highness, the most beautiful girl in all the lands, Nira Taisho!" she announced, grinning as she stepped aside to allow Nira to dance forward.

"Papa, look at my new kimono! Isn't it pretty?" she exclaimed, and without further notice, leapt from the top most stair into the air, giggling as she reached out, knowing that without fail, Sesshomaru would catch her. Which he did, with his hands coming around her waist, he pulled her against himself.

"Such beauty in my presence, my _lady_, would you give me the honor of escorting you to the royal car?" he asked, with Nira perched on his hip as she giggled and nodded. He smiled, turning towards the door. "Come on, Mika, let's go," he called out to his son, who grudgingly got up from the couch and moved towards the group as well.

"You seem in a bad mood, Mika, what's wrong, baby?" Kagome asked, reaching up to brush some hair from Mika's face only to have him pull away and bat at her hand. Kagome frowned, pausing as she watched Mika walk to the car and sighed. She reached inside, turning off the lights and turning on the outdoor light and then walked to the car as Sesshomaru was placing Nira into her booster seat.

The journey to the Higurashi shrine didn't take long, but Sesshomaru was concerned about Kagome, as she had been unusually quiet during the trip. Pulling up in front of the entrance to the shrine, Sesshomaru stopped and parked the car before moving to get out, only to have Kagome reach out and take hold of his wrist.

He looked back at her with a frown. "What is it?" he asked, watching as she reached down and pulled off his watch, and right before her eyes, Sesshomaru's hair turned to its natural silvery-white, his eyes changed from brown to amber, and his demonic markings came into view. "Kagome, I don't-"

"I want my family to see us as we are," she said softly, reaching up to pull off her own charmed necklace so that her own demonic features came into view. She got from the car and walked over towards Mika who was standing beside the car and held her hand out. "Give me your watch," she instructed.

It took a moment with Mika glaring at her before he removed the watch and held it out to Kagome, who put it, along with hers, Sesshomaru's, and Nira's (which Sesshomaru had handed to her) charms into her purse. "Alright, let's go," she said, placing a hand on Mika's lower back to escort him forward as Sesshomaru came forward with a lovely little fox demon on his hip.

Kagome raised her hand and knocked on the door, trying not to think of how weird it felt to knock on the door of a place that used to be her home. The door was answered by her younger brother, Souta, who simply stood in the doorway, staring at the four demons standing in the doorway. He stared intently at Kagome and frowned.

"K-Kagome?" Souta inquired, looking around to the other three. "Who are these people? What happened to you? You look different. Where's InuYasha?"

Kagome smiled, it would appear that her mother had not told Souta anything and was allowing Souta to get the full effect. "InuYasha, I would assume, is at home with his mate and pups," Kagome stated, reaching out to ruffle Souta's hair and moved inside. "Come on, Souta, go get Mom and Grandpa and meet us in the living room." She smiled and watched him dart off before leading her family into the living room to wait.

A few moments later, Nakoda, Souta, and Ichiri were walking into the room. Kagome smiled slightly at the shocked looks on both her mother's and her grandpa's expressions on seeing Kagome and Sesshomaru's demonic features, whereas earlier, they had appeared human. Kagome moved forward then, embracing her mother.

"Mom, Grandpa, Souta, I'd like you all to meet my family." She stepped away, standing beside of Sesshomaru. "Mom and Grandpa, you met Sesshomaru earlier, but Souta… this is my mate, Sesshomaru. And this is our youngest son, Mika," she gestured to the teenager who was standing a bit off to the side with his arms over his chest. "And this is our youngest daughter, Nira."

Sesshomaru set Nira down around this time, and there was a bit of silence in the room as everyone waited for everyone else to make a move, so that when Nira began to move forward towards the human half of Kagome's family, everyone was watching her. Kagome bit her lip slightly as she watched Nira stop in front of her mother.

Nira tilted her head, looking up at Nakoda. There was a little more silence before Nakoda smiled brightly. "Look at my new kimono, Grandma, isn't it pretty? And Mama fixed up my hair all nice and pretty too. Mama says I look like a real princess," she stated, grinning broadly.

It served as a very good ice breaker as Nakoda leaned down to wrap her arms around Nira's waist and lift her up into a hug. "Your Mama is right. You _do_ look like a princess, Nira." It was hard for Nakoda to imagine herself a grandmother at so young an age, let alone be a grandmother to children who were older than herself. It was a bit surreal, but Nakoda had always been family oriented, especially after her husband's death in a car accident.

Kagome was glad that everyone seemed to be getting along. Even Mika, as dinner was presented, let his 'tough guy' façade fade away in favor of her mother's superior cooking skills which helped him to loosen up. She was glad to see that Mika was actually smiling as he conversed with Souta about his favorite sport ever: soccer. Kagome shook her head slightly and looked over to see Sesshomaru conversing with her grandpa.

She held back a laugh as her grandpa attempted to 'lecture' Sesshomaru on the Higurashi shrine and history as if Sesshomaru did not know everything already. But to his credit, Sesshomaru was polite and even interjecting on things he himself knew to engage himself in the conversation. Nira and her mother were talking about Nira's classes and how Nira liked her teachers. Her mother was definitely in her element.

It wasn't until Souta broke away from Mika in their conversation to ask something else that everything fell silent again.

"So, Kagome, I thought for sure that you were going to marry InuYasha when you went back to the feudal era. What happened to change that?" Ah, Souta, ever the nosy one that didn't know when to just leave well enough alone.

Kagome gave a faint smile. "InuYasha is my best friend, Souta… and he has been for over five-hundred years… and let's just leave it at that."

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A/N: Sorry this took ages! My phone line is down until Friday, so I'm so so so super sorry! I'm at my Grandpa's house right now using his wifi, that's the only reason I was able to get this up today. I'll keep writing chapters though, so maybe by Friday, I'll have a whole bunch to load at once. Sorry again!


	4. Payback Time

"He doesn't have any qualifications, Kagome." Sesshomaru was tired, and he didn't like arguing with his mate, it took more out of him then arguing with others. He looked up across his desk at the woman that he had chosen to bear his pups and stand at his side all those years ago, and was still taken by surprise at the resolve in her eyes. She had never lost her inner fire.

"He just got out of high school, Sesshomaru. All I'm saying is that you should give him an internship, it'll help with his college work, _and_ he's a good worker. He would be an asset to the company." Kagome moved further into her husband's office and sat down in one of the chairs across from his desk.

"You're sure he's going into business school?" How she knew it, he didn't even want to contemplate. He'd already been forced to watch from a distance as the boy made passes on his mate. Okay, so she hadn't been his mate when she had been in high school, but it was hard for his inner beast to differentiate. It only knew that Kagome was his and it wasn't going to share her.

"Yes, because he is expected to take over his family business. But letting him work here to get the experience wouldn't hurt, Sesshomaru." Kagome leaned forward slowly. "Come on, please? He's one of my best friends," she tried, sticking out her lower lip slightly. Okay, so technically, he wasn't her best friend anymore, but he had been when she'd been in school.

Hojo had been so nice to her all through middle school and high school while she was going back and forth to the feudal era. He had offered her products to help with her illnesses, even if her illnesses had not been real. It was the thought that counted. And now that he was going to business school, how could it hurt for him to be able to have experience working at a law firm?

"Except that we don't know if he can be trusted. What kind of work would he do here, Kagome? He obviously can't be an associate or a paralegal." Not to mention the fact that Taisho Inc. was basically a demon-based business. Those who worked here were demons, half-demons, or humans with strong spiritual power, like Kagome.

Taisho Inc. worked to keep demons hidden from the humans in the modern world. They represented demons in court and they handled all legal affairs, even down to identification methods. After all, fake identifications were needed for demons that did not age accordingly with humans. They aided in relocation methods so that demons didn't raise human awareness and set them up within this country and others.

Where was there room for a human with no spiritual powers who did not know about the existence of demons? Sesshomaru didn't see the point in it. He also didn't like the boy, harboring ridiculous notions about his mate, it made his inner beast growl with defiance.

"I think that we can trust him, Sesshy… I mean, really, he's very admirable, and loyal, and clever, and-"

"Kagome." Sesshomaru's voice was almost a low guttural growl. He didn't like listening to his mate go on about other men like that.

"Oh, right, sorry. But it doesn't have to be anything big. He could be like… a runner. Someone's personal assistant or something, you know, take messages, fetch coffee. Either way, it'd look good that he had some kind of internship in an international company." Especially a law firm like Taisho Inc., there was law students from all over Japan wanting jobs here. She knew that Sesshomaru was picky about who he hired, but she _did_ have some pull.

Sesshomaru sighed, massaging his temple lightly and shook his head. "Fine, I'll have a letter sent to him." He couldn't believe that he was giving in to Kagome's wish.

Kagome just grinned, getting to her feet. "No need! I'll have one written up and I'll deliver it myself!" she exclaimed. She wanted to see the look on Hojo's face when he found out. She darted around the desk and leaned in to kiss Sesshomaru's cheek. "Thanks, love," she exclaimed before moving from the office.

Sesshomaru watched in surprise as his mate practically danced her way out of his office and shook his head slightly. What had he gotten himself into? He reached over, hitting the button on the intercom. "Ship- ah – sorry Shiori." He cringed as he caught himself calling his new assistant by his deceased son's name. "Shiori, could you please get a hold of InuYasha, the school day should be letting out, I need to speak to him."

He needed someone he could trust to watch over Kagome and that mortal.

Kagome was practically singing to herself as she parked her car and grabbed the sealed letter from the passenger side seat with the logo and seal from Taisho Inc. on it. She limited herself to humming, stepping up onto the curb before something leapt down from a tree, causing her to cry out in surprise until she realized that the attacker wasn't really an attacker at all.

"InuYasha!" she exclaimed. "You scared the hell out of me! It is entirely inappropriate for you to be leaping out of trees at people!" She raised her hand and brushed her hair back, shaking her head slightly. This was one of the worst parts about the charms which hid her demonic features: her senses were greatly dulled in this state, and she wondered how the heck she'd coped as a human before.

InuYasha just grinned slightly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well I couldn't help it, Kagome. You're just so easy to startle, and it's been a while since I was able to do something like that." He laughed good-heartedly as he walked up to her. "Sesshomaru told me that I should come with you to see one of your old friends."

Kagome sighed, shaking her head as she started down the street. "Typical Sesshomaru, I swear, he gets so jealous all the time! I mean, goodness, remember how long it took him to get comfortable with me hanging out with you by myself?" She shook her head slightly before looking back at her oldest friend. Sometimes, it still took some getting used to seeing him in modern day clothes.

In her head, she would always picture him in his red haori and walking around barefoot with a sword strapped to his side. But now, while he kept the red look usually, he was wearing a red button-down shirt and black pants. His hair was cut shorter now, as that was just the current fashion for men, otherwise, he could have been the old InuYasha on the night of the full moon.

InuYasha shrugged as he walked beside of Kagome, tucking his hands into his pockets as he walked. "He just worries about you, you know. And I think now that you're able to make contact with some of your old friends, he's just worried about how that might affect your relationship to him."

Kagome supposed that could be true. Before now, all Kagome had was Sesshomaru and her immediate family: InuYasha and the children. Now she was able to branch out a bit more and reconnect with old friends. "He shouldn't worry so much. He knows I love him. I just want my friends here to have some of the benefits that I have."

By this time, they were standing in front of the door of Hojo's family and she raised her hand, knocking on the door and waiting for a moment or two before the door was opened by none-other-than Hojo himself. Kagome grinned, practically forgetting about InuYasha's presence for the moment.

"Hey, Hojo!" she exclaimed brilliantly, her entire face lighting up. "How have you been since graduation?"

"Oh, Kagome, hello. I've been doing alright? How about you?" he asked before shaking his head slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry, won't you and your friend come in?" he asked, stepping aside to allow her access, smiling brightly back at her.

"Oh yes, of course." Kagome stepped into the house and when Hojo had closed the door she gestured to InuYasha. "Hojo, this is my very best friend InuYasha. He's also my brother-in-law," she stated, laughing easily, though she saw the surprise on his face. "Yeah, I actually got married, wild isn't it?"

"I-yes, it is. So soon after graduation, though I must say, Kagome, you look great." Hojo gestured towards the room behind them and they entered into the living room at this point. "So what brings you here?"

"Well, actually, I managed to convince my husband that… you would be great for an internship at his company, since I know you plan on going to college for business, right?" she asked, smiling at him before holding out the letter.

Hojo paused to look at the logo, his eyes widening. "Taisho Incorporated? You must be joking! This company has the most sought-after internships among college students in all of Japan!" he exclaimed, looking up at Kagome. "You married the CEO?"

"The owner, actually. It's a family business, been passed down for generations, I think." Kagome smiled slightly. She figured it was best not to overwhelm him with too much information right off the bat. "So what do you think? Will you accept it? I mean, it isn't anything _grand_ at the moment, but hey, everyone's got to start somewhere!"

"Yeah, you should just kind of be glad that he didn't stick you down in the mail room," InuYasha interjected with a laugh. "My brother's kind of sadistic like that." He held out his hand for Hojo, vaguely remembering seeing his face back when he'd used to come and fetch Kagome to go back to the feudal era, of course, he didn't know why Sesshomaru was so jealous other than the fact that this Hojo was a male, but sometimes, that was enough.

"I-yes, thank you so much, Kagome! How can I ever repay you for this?" Hojo asked, looking over at Kagome before he began to fully open the letter.

"Just think of it as me paying you back for all the extra help that you gave me in middle school and high school when I was out of school," Kagome said, grinning slightly.

Hojo looked up at Kagome then. "You didn't owe me anything for that, Kagome. I'll think of some way to pay you back, but for now, I think I'd better run to the shop to tell my parents! I… I'm sorry for being rude, but perhaps we can have dinner sometime? I'd like to meet your husband and thank him personally."

Kagome nodded slightly, waving off his apology. "Oh think nothing of it, and I will definitely talk to him about it." With that, she grabbed InuYasha's sleeve and tugged him back towards the door.

"It was nice meeting you, InuYasha. And thanks again, Kagome!" Hojo exclaimed on their way out. But Kagome was in far too pleasant of a mood not to wave back at him which caused him to smile. And there was one down, now she had paid Hojo back for being so very kind to her when she'd missed all that school back in the beginning.

Next on her list were three giggling girls who would soon be going off to college as well. Now, what could she do for them…


	5. The Other Side of Town

A/N: Sorry for the delay guys, I was having a bit of writer's block on how exactly I wanted to make this known, so I finally decided just to come out with it. Let's take a look at how InuYasha has done the past five-hundred years, shall we?

* * *

"Well you're home late," came a feminine voice from the kitchen of a quaint little two-story house. InuYasha smiled faintly at the sound of his wife's voice and moved into the kitchen after hanging up his jacket.

"Sorry, Sesshomaru asked me to help Kagome with something," he stated, smiling as he wrapped his arms around the slim waist of his beloved, bowing his head to gently press a kiss to the Mark on her shoulder.

"Oh really?" Kira smiled, turning her head to meet InuYasha's gaze and kissed his cheek gently. "What did she need your help with?" she asked simply, going back to her cooking. Some might think that Kira would be worried about her husband and mate spending extra time with his sometime girlfriend, but that just didn't fit the meek little fox demon.

As the eldest daughter of Shippo and Rin, Kira thought of Kagome as good as her grandmother, and as weird as that might sound, it made since in her mind. After all, amongst demons, it wasn't an uncommon occurrence to be related in some manner or another.

"Apparently, she went to go find a friend of hers from high school to offer him a job at the company, and Sesshomaru was worried about leaving her alone with him." Which was something that InuYasha took great enjoyment out of. Of course, it wasn't anything he'd ever had to worry about with Kira, but he remembered well how ill he'd gotten whenever Koga was around Kagome.

"Ah yes, well… your son…" Kira said this with a little bit of bitterness. "Is upstairs and moping around again, go talk to him and tell him dinner will be ready soon," she stated simply, shaking her head in exasperation as if she had already tried everything she could to get him to come down previously.

InuYasha laughed softly, shaking his head and moved away from Kira. As he walked, he undid the cuffs of his shirt, removing the watch he was wearing. As he did, his hair turned purely white and the tale-tell dog ears began to protrude from the top of his head as his human ears faded away. Moving down the hall once upstairs, he approached the only closed door.

He raised a hand to knock though paused as he heard an all-too-familiar sound. He smirked slightly, sharpened canine's revealed by the gesture. He reached down, replacing his watch to reactivate the charm, just in case, and he moved down the stairs once more and into the kitchen. "_Your_ son is not moping around up there, my dear. It sounds very much like he has a _very_ special friend holed up in there," he stated, chuckling softly.

Kira turned to face InuYasha, eyes wide. "You mean to tell me Tonbo has got a _girl_ up there? InuYasha! That is entirely inappropriate! You go up there right now and tell them to come out!"

InuYasha rolled his eyes slightly. "Oh come off it, Kira. The boy is 16 years old. He's got a right to have a girlfriend. So they're making out, what's the big deal?" He shook his head slightly and sat down at the kitchen table and picked up a piece of sushi with his fingers and put it in his mouth.

"The big deal is that he is 16 and that all his brothers at least waited until they were out of the house to," her voice dropped to a whisper. "Have sex with their girlfriends!" She shook her head, running her fingers through her auburn hair and sighed. "What if that's what they're doing?!" she exclaimed in a loud whisper.

InuYasha paused in his motion to pick up another piece of sushi. "It didn't sound like they were going all out, Kira. And I _do_ know the difference," he stated simply, rolling his eyes as he went back to eating.

"Well, _I_ am going to go tell him that dinner is ready, if his father stops eating it all!" she exclaimed, reaching out to smack his hand as he reached for yet another sushi roll. With that, she turned away from him, muttering something about silly dogs as she stopped in front of her son's room. She raised her hand to knock before shaking herself. She didn't need to knock! This was her house, right?

Right.

So she reached down, opening up the door and stepping inside. "Tonbo, honey, dinner is – oh by kami!"

* * *

InuYasha couldn't stop laughing. His wife was sitting in shock beside of him at the table, and across from them sat Tonbo and their unexpected dinner guest. While there hadn't been any sexual activity going on, Kira had gotten quite a shock when she'd opened up the bedroom door.

"So, Umi… how long have you and Tonbo been dating?" Kira asked softly, a cup of jasmine tea in her hands as she tried to remain steady.

Umi, a lovely blond-haired and blue-eyed teenager, simply smiled rather shyly, looking up towards Kira, placing a hand on Tonbo's leg gently. "We've been dating about a month. Tonbo wasn't sure how you'd react. I'm sorry for sneaking in. This is the first time, really." A faint blush colored pale cheeks and blue eyes drifted to the floor.

Kira gave a faint nod at this news, staring down into her tea. "A month, that's… wow. A month. That's great, really, Tonbo, I'm so glad you've been able to find someone special."

"What do you mean you didn't know how we would react, Tonbo? Honestly, you didn't think you could trust us with this?" InuYasha asked, resisting the urge to pinch something else to eat lest he get smacked again. He was starving, why wouldn't Kira just go ahead and serve dinner? He wanted to eat!

Tonbo shrugged slightly, it was easy to see that he was both embarrassed as well as upset that his parents seemed to be disappointed in him. "Well, I know that you're just… you're both very traditional." He looked down at the table, gently reaching down to place his hand on top of Umi's which was still resting on his leg and gently squeezed the digits.

InuYasha shook his head slightly. "We're traditional, but we're not barbaric, you know. It's not like we don't know about stolen kisses and… other things. I wish you could have met an old friend of ours, Miroku, before he passed on. Some of the things _he_ did were positively disgusting… after Miroku, nothing you could do, Tonbo, could ever make me cringe."

Tonbo gave his father a small smile. "Thanks, dad. It's good to know that you've got my back, really it is." He smiled back towards Umi. "You were right, I should have listened to you." He looked to his parents. "Umi told me that you guys wouldn't be angry with me. I was just worried."

Kira put on a bright smile, okay so maybe it was a bit overdone, but she reached out to touch Tonbo's arm that was still rested on the table. "It's perfectly fine, Tonbo! We don't mind at all that you're gay."

* * *

A/N: Okay, branching out a bit, I know. Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading.


	6. Late Night

"Ah ha! Gotcha you pathetic excuse of a good-for-nothing _fiend_! Take that, and that, and that! Mwahahaha! Victory is ours!" There was the sound of skin on skin as the two males in the room shared a high-five. "We got that little piece of shiii – Hi, Kagome," stated the elder of the two males as he reached back with his hand and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

Kagome arched an eyebrow at the two males in her living room in front of the television, both holding controllers for the Playstation 3 located in the entertainment center. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. "Mika, go ahead and get washed up for dinner," she stated to her son, smiling slightly. "And tell Nira to do the same thing, alright? We'll eat when you two come back down."

Mika gave a faint nod and headed upstairs almost immediately, leaving Kagome's attention on the other male. "You know, you're as bad as a teenager, Koga. You really should stop fooling around with those games, I swear, you're going through a midlife crisis. You over here because Ayame decided to hide your Xbox again?" she asked, arching a brow at the wolf demon who was setting down the controller and moving forward a bit sheepishly.

Kagome merely smiled, shaking her head slightly and rocked forward onto her toes and kissed Koga's cheek gently. "You're as good with a virtual sword as you are with a real one, Koga," she stated, chuckling softly before turning away from him. "You going to stay for dinner?" she asked, looking around over her shoulder at the ookami youkai.

Koga scratched his neck again, his nails currently the claws that defined him as a demon, his tail protruding from beneath his shirt and his black hair cropped short. "I don't know, Sesshomaru tends to get kind of… ah… territorial whenever I'm around, you know that, Kagome." While Koga could understand Sesshomaru's issues, Koga was mated to Ayame. Had been for five centuries, he wasn't sure why Sesshomaru still was threatened by him.

Kagome smiled and shook her head. "Sesshomaru won't be home in time for dinner. He called about an hour ago and said that he had an important meeting he had to stay after for," she stated with a small smile and continued on into the kitchen with Koga following behind her.

"Another meeting? Isn't that the third time this week that he's been at the office late? I remember a couple of days ago that I was a bit late leaving and Sesshomaru still hadn't come down." Odd, what could make Sesshomaru work late so much this week? He glanced up at Kagome who was watching him. "Not that I'm suggesting anything, because I'm not…"

Kagome shook her head slightly. "Oh Koga, Sesshomaru wouldn't do anything like that, I'm sure it's nothing," she said, waving her hand dismissively, though as she moved to put the food on the table, she wondered vaguely if Koga might be right. But no, Sesshomaru wouldn't cheat on her. He wasn't disloyal. After five-hundred years, it would be ridiculous to begin doubting him now.

* * *

"Thank you for staying after, Shiori," Sesshomaru stated, smiling at his young assistant. The small hanyou smiled innocently and nodded slightly, telling him that she was happy to help him in any capacity. Sesshomaru nodded slowly, watching her. "I'll be sure you're well compensated come your next paycheck for all these extra hours you've been forced to spend in my presence," he stated in a surprisingly teasing tone as he moved to grab his jacket and escorted her from his office and out into the main office building.

Sesshomaru watched as Shiori walked through the parking garage to her car, noting that she was walking a bit oddly and made a point to make a note to himself to speak with her about it. He already had spoken with her about the bruises she was allowing to be seen even in her work attire. He checked his watch and realized that he was later then he expected. But there was still one more thing he had to do before he went home.

He got into his car, putting in the key and starting it. He pulled on his seatbelt and pulled from the garage. He pulled up to a flower shop that was still open and moved inside, buying a bouquet of the most expensive orchids that they had. He inhaled the scent of the bouquet and smiled faintly. "Only the best." Only the best for his girl.

He moved towards the car once more and got in, placing the flowers into the passenger side seat and set off once more.

* * *

"Goodnight, baby," Kagome whispered, leaning over to gently kiss Nira's head and smoothed back her hair gently. She smiled, reaching over to turn on the small lamp on Nira's bedside table and kissed her forehead once more before rising from her position on the side of the bed and turned off her light. Moving from the room, she pulled the door to but left it open slightly so that light from the hallway shone into the room.

Moving down the hall, she knocked on the door of her son, pushing the door open after a moment to see her son at his desk, pouring over a book. "Don't stay up to late, sweetie. You know what they say, you can't take tests very well if you're tired going into it. Trust me, I've tried pulling all nighters," she stated, chuckling softly before moving out of the room, closing his door completely and headed down the hall to her own room.

Undressing and showering, she dressed in her night clothes and moved to sit on her bed and flipped on the television. She glanced to the clock, wondering where on earth Sesshomaru could be. She was starting to get worried about him. She flipped the television over to the news, and reached over to grab the phone, dialing his cell phone. No answer. She bit her lip, wondering if maybe he was just driving and couldn't get to his phone. That was possible, right? Or maybe he was still in that meeting.

There were no new accidents on the news, so he hadn't been in a car wreck. She called the office, again there was no answer. She bit her lip slightly. What if Koga had been right? What if Sesshomaru was not really in a meeting? What meeting would run this late? She turned the television off and shook her head, closing her eyes she slid down into her bed, flipping off the light in her room.

A short while later, Sesshomaru pulled up to a dark house with the front porch light on. He sighed softly, moving into the house and then to the kitchen to make himself a little snack before he retired to bed. Walking by the stairs, he noticed a light under the door in his son's room and moved upstairs, knocking gently before opening the door.

He smirked slightly, leaning against the door frame at the sight of his son asleep with his head on the desk. He moved forward, lightly placing a hand on Mika's shoulder, startling the boy awake. He chuckled. "Sorry, Mika, but you really shouldn't sleep like that. You'll get a crick in your neck. Go to bed, son," he stated softly, smiling at the boy before moving from the room. He heard a noise down the hall and looked up to see that Kagome was standing in the doorway to their room. He smiled, approaching her. He leaned in to kiss her cheek and was surprised when she didn't return it. "You alright, mate?"

"I'm fine. There are leftovers from dinner in the fridge if you want it," she said softly before turning away from him and moving back into the room away from him, wondering vaguely why he smelt of flowers and earth. Where had he been? She climbed back into bed, biting her lip firmly and closing her eyes against the tears. No, she didn't believe it. Sesshomaru couldn't have been with another girl… right?

* * *

A/N: What do we think?! Who thinks Sesshomaru might be cheating on Kagome?! Please review. :D


	7. What Are Friends For?

"I don't know, I just know that he didn't come home last night until a little after midnight," Kagome said softly, looking down at the table in front of her. She was trying desperately not to let Koga's words the previous day affect her, but it was difficult. Currently, Kagome was sitting at a restaurant table in a place that was mostly deserted save for her and her small group of friends.

"I don't know, Kagome, I think you're looking into it too much. I mean, while it's obvious that Sesshomaru is a bit more stand-offish than our guys, it _is_ obvious that he cares for you a lot. I mean, really, Kagome, would the guy stick around for so long if he didn't like you?" This insightful suggestion came from the girl across from her with fiery red hair, who was leaning across the table towards Kagome.

"Thanks, Ayame. I guess ever since Koga hinted at me that he might be cheating it has just been stuck in my head." Kagome wrinkled her nose slightly and shook her head slightly.

"Oh come off it, you know how Koga can get, Kagome. He's just as bad as InuYasha sometimes, you know that! He just likes to stir up trouble." This came from the girl beside of her who had auburn hair. "Koga's probably just trying to stir up some drama. I'm just lucky we've had enough drama to keep InuYasha occupied." Kira shook her head slightly as she leaned forward. "Which reminds me, I simply _have_ to tell you all this: Tonbo has a boyfriend."

The other two women looked over towards Kira with wide eyes. "Tonbo is gay?!" Kagome hissed out. "When did that happen? I mean… didn't he have a girlfriend like what… last year?"

"Well, maybe he's just bisexual," Ayame offered, looking towards Kira. "Of course, I guess so long as he's happy that's what matters, how did InuYasha take it?"

Kira stared at the other two in a dead-panned manner. "InuYasha thought it was _funny._ Oh right, just hilarious. My son has just guaranteed that he will never be looked at with equality simply because he likes boys. It's just lucky he's almost out of school, because I can't even imagine what they would do to him there!"

Kagome smiled slightly, shrugging. "Well hey he's the first gay member of the family that we know of, you know, I think we were due. I mean, with as many people as is in our family and only one of them is gay, I think we've set a record so far." And while she understood Kira's concerns, she was still rather worried about her own issues going on. Somehow, a cheating husband seemed to trump a gay son.

She was brought from her reverie by the sound of three female friends shouting out "Kagome?!"

She looked up to see three faces that had been etched into her mind ever since she'd made the choice to stay in feudal Japan with Sesshomaru. "Eri! Yuka! Ayumi!" Kagome grinned, getting to her feet and embracing her three childhood friends for a moment before pulling away. "What are you all doing here? I thought you were all three insistent on getting out of Tokyo!"

The three females looked at each other before looking to Kira and Ayame before speaking. "Kagome, we weren't planning on leaving for a couple of months yet. We thought you'd already be gone, didn't you say something about having to move where your jealous boyfriend, InuYasha lived? You said he didn't live near here," Yuka claimed, watching Kagome.

Kagome blushed, forgetting that had been what she'd told them when she had gone back to feudal Japan the last time after graduation. "Oh, um… we're not really together anymore, he and I," she stated, looking back towards her two demonic friends. "Actually, guys, this is Kira and Ayame. Kira… actually is the one with InuYasha now." She waved at the three girls apologetically as they seemed startled by this. "Oh it' nothing, really!" she exclaimed.

"Kagome, he dumped you for this girl and you're actually hanging out with her?" Eri asked softly as she leaned in towards Kagome.

"No, no, no! Actually I left _him_," Kagome tried, offering a smile to them, which seemed to surprise them even more.

"Well, it's about time, Kagome!" Yuka exclaimed. "So tell me, are you going to go after Hojo now?" she asked, grinning slightly. "You know he's still in town too!"

"Oh, I know he is, I saw him just the other day, actually," she stated, smiling slightly. "But no, I'm not going to go after Hojo now. I'm happily involved with someone else!" She then held out her hand where there was a white gold wedding band on her ring finger. "Sorry, I would have invited you to the wedding but… well… the wedding was kind of far off, and he completely surprised me with the whole thing."

Which was true to a certain extent. She'd never expected Sesshomaru to try and marry her in modern times. Their Mating ritual had always seemed to be enough for her, so when he'd come home with a diamond ring and told her that she was going to marry him, she'd been completely shocked! But the look on her friends' faces was completely and totally priceless.

"You're _married?!"_ They exclaimed in unison.

Kagome just grinned. "Yep, I'm happily married to InuYasha's older brother!"

* * *

"I can't believe my nephew is gay," Sesshomaru stated simply, shaking his head slightly. He was still at the office at this point, but he usually took lunch with Koga and a few of the more long-term employees. Today, InuYasha had even joined them.

"I know, right? You should have _seen_ Kira's reaction. I think she was in shock. It was so funny," InuYasha stated with a grin as he downed his bag of potato chips. "When she walked in on Tonbo and his boyfriend making out, she actually almost _fainted._"

"She walked _in_ on them?" Koga asked, laughing softly and shaking his head slightly. "Hasn't she ever heard of knocking? Even back in the old days when we lived in caves you knew better than to walk into the den without announcing yourself first," he stated, shaking his head slightly. "That's absolutely crazy."

"It was so worth it though! I thought she was going to just faint then and there. Do you know how long it's been since I've seen a woman actually _faint_?" InuYasha shook his head slightly, still laughing over the whole thing. "But anyway, Kira told Umi to invite his parents over for dinner, so _that _should be interesting."

"Speaking of interesting, want to tell us why you've been missing so many dinners at home, Sesshomaru?" Koga piped up, taking a drink of his coffee from his mug, eying the dog demon.

Sesshomaru, on the other hand, froze slightly in his motion to bring some noodles to his mouth on his chopsticks. He lowered the sticks and noodles back to the bowl and turned to look over at Koga. "Just what exactly do _you_ know about it, Koga?" he demanded.

"Oh, I was there last night whenever Kagome was putting dinner out. I didn't want to impose or anything, but she said that you weren't coming home for dinner and I know that it isn't uncommon for you to be working late recently, so I was just wondering." Koga attempted to write it all off as innocent curiosity, but Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed anyway.

"I had some things to attend to here at the office and then a few errands to run afterwards, what I do is of no concern to you, Koga, and I'll thank you to keep your nose in your own business," Sesshomaru stated firmly. What would happen if they learned that he was keeping something from Kagome? He knew how close she was to both Koga and InuYasha, who were now both staring at him as if he were some sort of parasitic piece of shit.

Koga leaned forward slowly, eyes taking on a darker light. "Now, I know I'm overstepping my bounds here, Sesshomaru, but I've cared about Kagome for a hell of a lot longer than you have, and I'm sorry, but if you're doing something that could potentially hurt her, you need to stop it. Right now. I won't pretend to know what it is that you're doing up there on the 16th floor all by your lonesome, but I just want you to know that if you hurt Kagome… I will personally find a way to destroy you."

With that, Koga leaned back, a smile on his features as if nothing had happened. "Good, now that we've gotten that taken care of… I should get back to work." He finished off his coffee before getting to his feet and returning his cup to the sink to rinse it out before heading back towards his office.

InuYasha was staring absently at his brother, having never taken his eyes off of the older male during Koga's tirade. "If you hurt Kagome, Sesshomaru… I'll help Koga take you down. I _do_ still have the Tetsusaiga, you know," he stated softly before he got to his feet as well, deciding he should probably get back to the school and work as well, leaving Sesshomaru alone at the table staring at his bowl of uneaten noodles.

* * *

By the kamis, she'd forgotten how energetic her mortal friends could be! She was too old to be keeping up with teenagers anymore. Even Kira and Ayame who were tagging along after her were showing signs of fatigue now that they'd been dragged around to all of Kagome's old haunts when she'd been human. By this time, though, they were nearing the end of the afternoon. "We should probably start heading home so that dinner is ready when the men come home," Ayame spoke up.

Kagome nodded seriously, wondering if Sesshomaru had tried calling the house to tell her he wouldn't be home again. How odd that she hadn't thought about that once since Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi had appeared. She'd completely forgotten to fret over whether or not Sesshomaru was cheating on her. However, before much else could be said, they were interrupted by yet another shout of "Kagome!"

Though this shout, at least, was followed by shouts of Kira's and Ayame's names as well. "Oh! InuYasha!" Kagome exclaimed, smiling slightly as InuYasha strode forward towards their group. "InuYasha, you remember Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi, don't you?" she asked, smiling slightly.

InuYasha looked over towards the three mortals. It was vague, but he did remember meeting them a couple of times before when he had come to fetch Kagome back to the feudal era. "Yeah, hey," he stated to them dismissively before looking over at the other three girls, moving towards Kira. "Hey, listen, I think that… since Umi's family is coming up tomorrow, tonight we can have kind of our own little family thing. You know, invite up Kagome and…" he glanced towards the three mortals, and winced, not wanting to say _'her children_' in front of them. "And her household and maybe Ayame and Koga and their brood," he stated, looking towards Kira meaningfully.

Kagome watched InuYasha for a moment. "Did you talk to Sesshomaru today, InuYasha?" she asked, frowning slightly. "He hasn't called my cell phone, but if he's going to be home for dinner, he might just want to stay at home," she stated simply.

InuYasha looked over at her for a moment. "I don't know if he's coming home for dinner or not, but I know that there was a slight confrontation earlier with Koga and Sesshomaru might not be in such a good mood tonight, you should probably just come over to our place. Better atmosphere and all. And… we can tease Tonbo," he stated, grinning slightly at the prospect, which only made Kira blush.

Kagome gave a faint nod, exchanging a look with Ayame. "Alright, InuYasha… if you say so." Though as they said their good-byes to Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi, Kagome couldn't help but wonder what Koga had confronted Sesshomaru about… and what InuYasha knew that she didn't.

* * *

A/N: I am _so, so, so_ sorry that this took so long! But I just started back at school to get my Masters, and I got completely over-wealmed! Who knew that this would be so much harder than getting your Bachelor's! Anyway. Again, I'm so so sorry, I hope you can all forgive me! Otherwise, I shall be all sadface and it will not be good. As always, thank you for reading and being so patient, and please review!


	8. Hidden Agenda

"Kira, Kira!" came the sound of an exuberant young girl as soon as she had cleared the door and as Kira stepped out of the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron, she smiled and leaned down, lifting the young girl up into her arms.

"Hello, Nira! Oh, how I've missed you!" Kira exclaimed while hugging her little sister tightly as Nira wrapped her legs around Kira's waist. "How are you, little bit?" she asked, smiling brightly as she carried Nira into the kitchen. She would forever be grateful to her adoptive-grandparents for taking in her little sister. While she could have done it herself, or even any of her siblings, everyone knew that she would have had a better quality of life with Kagome and Sesshomaru.

Kagome walked into the kitchen as well, though Mika had rushed upstairs to meet up with Tonbo. "Hey, Kira, can I help you with anything?" she asked, smiling slightly at the other woman who was setting Nira down in one of the chairs at the table.

"No, thanks, I'm alright, Kagome," she stated, smiling slightly before looking past her and then frowning. "Is Sesshomaru not coming? I know InuYasha called and told him that you were all having dinner over here tonight," she tried, biting her lower lip slightly when Kagome merely shook her head.

"He's working late again, he said that he would try to make it over here if he was able to," Kagome said, trying not to feel like she was being completely and utterly betrayed by the man she loved. While Kira and Ayame had a point in saying that he wouldn't be unfaithful after all this time, Yuka and Eri had also been right when they'd told her that he might just have been getting away with it for a long time. Of course, Yuka and Eri didn't know the real time that they had been together, but it made her wonder.

"Kagome, can I talk to you? In the other room?" InuYasha asked as he entered into the kitchen, watching her carefully. "It's kind of important." Gesturing for her to follow with one clawed finger, InuYasha turned and walked from the kitchen. It seemed like InuYasha had already removed his charm for the day, showing his true half-demon form as he walked away.

Kagome smiled to Kira and rose from the seat she'd just claimed at the table and followed after her best friend, stopping in the living room to see him standing in front of the fireplace. She moved forward towards him, stopping beside of him. "What is it, InuYasha?"

"Are there really… problems between you and Sesshomaru?" he asked softly, amber eyes finding Kagome's face and searching it for any possible sign that she might be hiding something from him. "Because if you are, you should tell me, I can't help you out if I don't know what's going on."

Kagome shrugged in what she thought would seem like a nonchalant way, though InuYasha wasn't really fooled by it from the look on his face. "I don't know. I didn't think there was, InuYasha, but… now I'm not so sure. I mean, I had thought everything between us was going really well still. We had talked about having another child previously, but when we kind of adopted Nira, we put that to rest for a little while." She wasn't sure why Sesshomaru seemed to be coming home late every other day at least.

InuYasha watched the indecision and confusion on Kagome's face for a moment before he spoke. "When Koga and I talked to him earlier… he looked like he was hiding something. Koga had asked him flat out exactly why he was missing dinner at home, and Sesshomaru immediately rose up on the defensive. I don't want to start anything here, Kagome, but… if there's going to be a fight between you and Sesshomaru… you know I'm going to get caught in the middle between my brother and my best friend, and I don't want to have to hurt either of you." Even though he would always choose Kagome over Sesshomaru, he _had_ gotten closer to his brother over the centuries.

Kagome nodded slightly, lowering her gaze to the floor. "I know, InuYasha. I don't want there to be a fight between any of us either. I'll talk to Koga, try and calm him down or something, I don't know. I don't need him stirring Sesshomaru up, I'd hate to have to tell Ayame that Sesshomaru put Koga in the hospital or something…" she gave a faint smile before touching InuYasha's cheek. "Thanks for being such a good friend, InuYasha," she said simply before turning and returning back to the kitchen, leaving InuYasha to stare after her.

* * *

"Shiori, I love you," Sesshomaru exclaimed, wrapping his arms around the half-blood's small waist and lifting her up and embracing her firmly before setting her down and leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek. "You are the absolute best thing that could ever have happened to me right now." He would never have been able to get through this time since Shippo and Rin had passed on without her presence.

Kagome was over at Kira's and InuYasha's, so she probably wouldn't miss him for dinner tonight at least. He smiled, grabbing his jacket from his office coat rack and moved towards her. "Come, you and I are going to dinner tonight, sky is the limit. Whatever you want, tonight is a night for celebrations!" he exclaimed, smiling brightly. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they walked, Sesshomaru couldn't help but feel as if this huge weight had been lifted from his heart. He hadn't felt this good in years, and it was all thanks to the girl at his side.

Walking down into the car garage, he opened the passenger side door of his car for Shiori, smiling as she climbed in before he moved over to his own side of the car and climbing inside. Putting down the windows to let out a bit of the heat that had been trapped inside the car for most of the day, he turned towards Shiori. "So, where to tonight, my dear?" he asked, smiling slightly at her.

Shiori, who was smiling brightly, a glimmer of pride in her eyes, leaned back in her seat. "How about we go to that new place on main? What was the name? Hokkaido's? Let's go there. I hear they have an _amazing_ teriyaki chicken and steak dinner."

"Hokkaido's it is, my dear," Sesshomaru stated, starting the car and pulling out of the parking garage. Neither he nor Shiori spotted a certain wolf demon who just happened to have been working a little later tonight than usual who had followed them to the parking garage.

Koga stepped out from behind one of the pillars of the garage, a look of pure hatred and malice on his features. Kagome was going to be heartbroken, and it was all the fault of that pathetic mutt-face dog and that half-demon bat chick. They were going to pay.

* * *

"Alright, Nira, head upstairs and get ready for bed, I'll be up to tuck you in and read your story in just a minute." Kagome smiled as her young granddaughter raced up the stairs almost as soon as they were home from InuYasha's. It had been quite a pleasant evening. Even with the gentle ribbing InuYasha and Mika both had been giving to Tonbo about his boyfriend. Kira had stayed well out of that subject and Kagome wondered vaguely if Kira was uncomfortable with the notion of having a gay son. Or perhaps she was still in shock over it.

Kagome watched as Mika made his way upstairs as well, something about having a test to study for or something. She moved into the kitchen, put her keys down on the table after turning on the light, and took off her jacket. Getting a drink of water from the tap, she set the glass on the table before moving upstairs to tuck in little Nira. It didn't take long to get her to sleep. The girl was worn out already. And so she headed downstairs in time for there to come a knock at her door.

When Kagome opened the door, she smiled pleasantly, tilting her head slightly and stepped back to allow the person entrance. "Koga! What a surprise, what brings you here so late this evening?" she asked, closing the door behind him and gesturing that they continue on to the kitchen where she'd left her water.

Koga moved with Kagome to the kitchen, pausing as she moved to pick up her glass of water before he spoke. "Kagome… I've been warring with myself all night as to whether or not I should come here tonight. I need to tell you-"

"Kagome, are you still up?" came a call from the front entrance hall.

Kagome smiled at Koga. "Hold on just a sec, Koga." She moved past him to stick her head out into the hall. "I'm in the kitchen, honey, but keep your voice down, Nira's already in bed," she called out in her normal indoor-voice. She then moved back towards Koga and smiled. "Now what were you saying?" she asked, smiling at him.

Koga's eyes shot toward the front of the house before he backed away from Kagome. "Actually… I'll tell you later, alright?" he asked softly. "This is a conversation better held in private," he stated before leaning in to kiss Kagome's forehead and then turned, moving out the back door just as Sesshomaru came into the kitchen.

Finding Kagome staring at the back door, Sesshomaru moved forward. "What is it? Did you hear something?" he asked, moving up to wrap an arm around her waist.

Kagome just frowned and shrugged. "Nah, Koga was just here, but he had to leave, I guess." She turned to face him with a small smile. "How was work?"

Sesshomaru smiled down at her, wrapping his arms fully around her waist. "Not nearly as nice as coming home to the woman I love," he stated, smiling as he lifted her up. "I don't know about you… but I know that after a long day's work… I could use a shower… want to join me?"

Kagome laughed as Sesshomaru lifted her up bridle style and asked if she wanted to shower with him. "Is that a trick question, Mr. Taisho?" she asked, arching a brow. "You know I'd never give up an opportunity to see you naked…" She laughed then as he turned and began to carry her upstairs, turning off the light using his elbow and moving through the dark house to their bedroom.

* * *

A/N: Okay, this note is gonna be a bit different from others in that I'm going to ask you all to do me a -huge- favor. Since I can't exactly do a -poll- on here, I'd like to know if any of you would like to see a love scene in this fic that is -NOT- Kagome and Sesshomaru. If so... tell me what pairing you'd like to see! Obviously, as this is a Kagome/Sesshomaru fic, there -will- be love scenes between them, but... I'm curious to know what the readers want to see. Please review or drop me a PM!


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